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Review: Veuve Clicquot Rare Vintage 1988
Veuve Clicquot Rare Vintage 1988 Champagne
Buy Veuve Clicquot Rare Vintage 1988 for $99.00 from wine.com
Buy the Riedel Sommeliers Vintage Champagne Flute for $61.99 from wine.com
In the 1990s champagne house Bollinger introduced a new “special order” champagne service – and label – called “Bollinger R.D.” ( short for “récemment dégorgé (in English, “recently disgorged”)). Bollinger made available its reserves of very old vintages which were still aging “on the lees” (aging on the racks, still with its yeast and sugar). Basically, the wine had been aging; but the continued presence of the yeast helps maintain its “mousse” (the bubbles). Once a certain vintage was ordered by the customer, Bollinger would remove the yeast from the bottle (a process called “disgorgement”), bottle it, and ship it to the customer. So what does the customer get? A bottle of champagne where the wine itself has aged for 20 plus years; but has all the effervescence and vitality as it did when the vintage was originally released. Other champagne houses have their own versions of recently disgorged champagne. Most notable is Champagne Krug with its “Krug Collection”; Dom Pérignon also has available its older vintages with the “Dom Pérignon Oenothèque”. But depending on the vintage (and the champagne house), recently disgorged champagne can run in the hundreds of dollars. The currently available Dom Pérignon Oenothèque 1973 retails for around $300. The current issue of 1985 Krug Collection retails for around $600; and the ultra-rare 1962 Krug Collection in magnum – released as part of a set to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Henri Krug as chief winemaker – recently commanded a price in the tens of thousands of dollars, since the set was released as a limited edition of only forty worldwide. But if you’re an oenophile who wants to experience a recently disgorged champagne, without spending hundreds or thousands of dollars, Veuve Clicquot has currently available their new line of RDs: “Veuve Clicquot Rare Vintage 1988.” At $110 per 750 ml bottle, that’s a great deal Recently I did my
first tasting of the Veuve Clicquot Rare Vintage 1988. The champagne was
tasted at 45 degrees using a Riedel Sommelier Vintage Champagne flute. The Bouquet I have sampled all the different brands of recently disgorged champagnes (but not all vintages). The aromas emanating from all previously RDs – while differing in smells – were consistently firm and powerful (but not overwhelming). The bouquet of the
Veuve Clicquot Rare 1988 was subtle … bordering on “non-existent.”
Yes, I could smell the gentle aroma of freshly-baked bread; but it was
difficult. Not because the bouquet was complex, but because, again, it was
almost indiscernible. If you’re not paying attention, you might not notice
it has a bouquet at all. The Appearance
Pictured on the right is a shot of the Veuve Clicquot Rare 1988. It shows a nice, consistent golden-yellow hue. [NOTE: the photo was color calibrated using a spectrally-neutral grey card] While I was impressed by the wine’s color, I was also surprised by one thing: visually, there was very little mousse. As mentioned above, the mark of recently disgorged champagne is the fact that the wine has rested on the lees (and with its initial yeast) a good ten years longer than normal. Therefore, one would expect that the mousse would be lively. In all other RDs I’ve had, such was the case; every Krug Collection I’ve tasted had streams of bubbles, which remained even when the wine reached actual room temperature. On visual inspection, the Veuve Clicquot Rare had, on average, maybe four streams of bubbles, most of which died out rather quickly. The Taste Despite the visual lack of mousse, there was a very nice “feeling” of bubbles on the palate. In terms of flavors: in some ways, the Veuve Clicquot Rare 1988 surprised me; and in other ways, I experienced some things which I “expected.” Regarding the latter – the Veuve Clicquot Rare 1988 had the hallmark flavor of a recently disgorged champagne: the noticeable yeasty, biscuity flavor. And … the Rare 1988 had that “peppery” taste possessed by most labels of Veuve Clicquot. What was interesting was that the peppery taste was stronger than usual; it was almost as strong as what you’d find in Veuve Clicquot’s prestige cuvée La Grande Dame. What surprised me was a taste I didn’t expect: the Veuve Clicquot Rare 1988 is much “fruitier” – strong notes of apple and even cherry – than any Veuve Clicquot champagne I’ve ever had. At times, it was as if the apple and the cherry flavors were “dueling”; one moment the apple would dominate, the next moment the cherry would stand out. There was also a hint of lime. A very very subtle hint. And despite what others have noted, I did not think the wine was very acidic at all (acidity in champagne is a good indicator of how long a champagne can age; the more acidic, the better it will age). The only disappointment in the wine was the aftertaste. The champagne starts of strong and firm, and the tastes are complex and intriguing. At first, you think the wine will linger on the palate, slowly dissolving away. But all of a sudden, the taste disappears. The vanishing act played by Veuve Clicquot Rare 1988 is almost as surprising as its forceful entrée. The Superlative Opinion The Veuve Clicquot Rare Vintage 1988 is a great way to experience the tastes of recently disgorged, and aged, champagnes without breaking the bank. At $110 a bottle, it’s a fabulous deal. Normally, I don’t like pairing wines with specific foods; everyone’s palate is different, as is everyone’s taste preferences. Once I had 1969 Krug Collection in Magnum with a rare hamburger, and loved it! However, I did taste the Veuve Clicquot rare along with bitter dark chocolate truffles and loved the pairing! The neutral, not-so-sweet nature of the bitter chocolate enhanced the fruity notes of apple and cherry; it was almost as if the truffle had the fruit inside! Bottom line: it's a nice champagne — especially for the price. And it is representative of recently disgorged champagnes. But you'll need to spend more if you want an RD that "a drink".
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